The Witch Ranger
by Pauline07
Summary: When Irene Halliwell becomes a teen mother, she has to move in order to protect herself and her child. To a little place called Angel Grove.
1. Chapter 1

**Don't get me wrong- I love Leo. I LOVE Leo. But for my purposes, this is a Leo- bashing fic. My advice- don't like, don't read. Also, the timeline of Charmed has been moved back to 1971, to help the story make some semblance of sense. Enjoy.**

"Do you think I could ever accept this? Leave and never come back!" A man's voice yelled for the whole street to hear.

A young girl, no more than 16, ran as fast as possible out of the Halliwell's front door. She had black hair her mother was always telling her came from her Aunt Prue, and ice blue eyes that came from her grandfather on her father's side, although she was not happy to claim that at the moment. She was of medium height, but just at the threshold, and was very petit and toned.

In her arms was a little baby girl, only a week old by the looks of it. She had watery blue eyes, and blonde beginnings of hair at the top of her skull. Though her eyes and hair were her father's, it was obvious she looked incredibly like her mother. It was also obvious that she was well cared for, as she was holding onto her mother for dear life as the teen tried to get the baby as far away from its grandfather as possible.

If you looked behind her, you would see a blonde man in the door, with green eyes. He looked nothing like his daughter, whose facial features mimicked her mother. It was a blessing to the young girl. She had no desire to associate with the man- Leo was his name- who she had once called Dad. She had even less of a desire to expose her baby to him. He looked toward her with a cruel expression, then shut the door, happy that the family black sheep who had gotten pregnant was out of his household and away from his beautiful children, Wyatt, Chris, and Chris's twin, Prue (although these days the girl went by Melinda, saying Prudence was an embarrassing name). Now he just had to figure out how to tell his family, who, for reasons unknown, adored the demon.

As she got closer to the middle of town, Irene "Rene" Sarah Halliwell slowed down to a walk. There was no way she could go back to her childhood home now, her father- no, Leo, he lost the title of father when he tried to attack her child and threw her out of the house- would kill her and possibly Mari.

She looked down at Marianne, the cutest baby alive. Her Aunt Phoebe had helped her out after Rene had determined her father's reaction would be….less than stellar. She felt a surge of protectiveness for the infant, and wondered where exactly she could go. She could go to Aunt Paige's or Aunt Phoebe's…no, he would look there first. Same with Wyatt's, Chris and Bianca's, and Mel's, and her grandfather had died years ago. She was too young to become a whitelighter, and even if she could, she was fairly certain babies weren't allowed up there. Living in the past or future was a last resort as it would mess up the time stream, and she was fairly certain she had no relatives outside of DC (Well, maybe Uncle Henry's twin sister, but she was pretty sure she had no idea she existed).

Her only choice was to move somewhere alone, and become a runaway. Get a job, find some friends, find a school. She knew there were a few high schools that had daycares. She had even heard of one in state, and even though it was safer, she did not have the funding nor the time to leave California.

What was that town again? Oh yeah, Angel Grove. The high school was one of the best in the state, and was not that judgmental. She was sure that her mom would have insisted on moving there if it wasn't for the spiritual nexus.

She realized she was just outside the local attorney's office. Perfect, she could change her last and middle names to reduce the chance that Leo would find her in Angel Grove.

(Divider)

Mildred Silvester looked at the teen across from her. "Miss Halliwell, why do you want to change your name?" She sounded tired, as if she had seen many with no reason to visit an attorney's office, and just wanted to go home.

The scared teenager looked up at the heavy set woman in her mid 50's, and cradled Mari just a little bit tighter. "Well you see, Miss, ah, Silvester, this is Marianne," Rene smiled. "My daughter. My father is a bit of a traditionalist who, for reasons that completely puzzle me, hates my guts. I guess Mari was the last straw, and he tried to kill me and my baby. Luckily, he did not succeed, but he threw me out of the house. I fear that he might come after me in the future, if I don't leave and try to cover my tracks. So I'm moving to Angel Grove, and if I change my name, he won't be able to find me or my daughter,"

Mildred look surprised. She was expecting to hear another tiny teen fight that she would have to report to the police, not an attempted murder and a forced hand. She quickly grabbed the paperwork, sensing that time was of the essence. "Would you like your first names change as well, or just your last and middles,"

Rene shook her head. "I don't think I could get used to going by a different name. And I never got to tell him Mari's name before he flung a knife at me: only my aunt knows. So, just my middle name and our last name, please,"

Mildred nodded. "Ok. What would you like to change it to?"

Rene considered for a moment. "Well, I always liked the name Jayne, spelled with a Y. So that will work for my middle name," Mildred nodded again, and wrote it down on the sheet. "And as for the last name, I know it's predictable, but he doesn't care enough about me to really search for me, so I would love to do a nod off to my heritage and use Warren, if you don't mind,"

Mildred's heart went out to the teen as she wrote the names down on the sheet. "Ok, then all I need as Marianne's middle name, and you're set to run,"

Irene smiled. "Marilyn. It was kind of a nod off to my sister; she always used to wish her name was Marilyn,"

"Ok," Mildred nodded. "So Marianne Marilyn Warren and Irene Jayne Warren?"

"You've got it," Rene smiled. She started to dig through her purse. "How much do I owe you?"

"Darling; keep your money. I'm a civil lawyer who usually works for the rich and I have no family; I really don't need it. Besides, you'll need all of it to get to wherever you're going," Mildred said kindly.

"Oh my gods, thank you!" Irene exclaimed. She wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"No thanks necessary," Mildred brushed off. "The bus station is about two miles from here; you better get going before the last one. I'll get your transfer records over there,"

"Thank you," Irene stood up to go out the door. She paused for a moment. "Why are you doing this? You just met me,"

Mildred smiled. "You remind me of me when I was young. Now go!"

Irene didn't stop for a moment.

**Yes, I know this is not realistic. Do I care? No. The whole show isn't realistic. So, thank you for your consideration. **


	2. Chapter 2

Kim was walking to school with her best friends Jason, Trini, Billy, and Zack. It was a sunny day in Angel Grove, California, and Kim almost couldn't wait until 3:00 when they could go to the Youth Center and just hang out.

"Hey, who's that over there?" Jason pointed to a girl with black hair and ice blue eyes, who was holding a baby in her arms. It wasn't that Angel Grove was a small town, but they did recognize most of the students. She was obviously new. Kim felt bad for her: she knew many kids liked to tease the ones who took advantage of the schools day care, calling them sluts and morons.

"I don't know, Jase," Trini said. "I don't recognize her,"

Kim considered for a moment. "I'm going to go talk to her,"

Kim walked over to the new girl, who was trying to coax the infant into letting go of her necklace, which sported a strange pattern. "No, Mari, you can't chew on that, you've got many things you can chew on, but this is off limits,"

"Hi," Kimberly said, interrupting the mother-daughter conversation. The teenager looked up and smiled sheepishly. "You must be new. I'm Kimberly, but you can call me Kim,"

"I'm Irene, but you can just call me Rene. And this is Marianne," she said in a baby voice. She smiled. "I just moved here,"

"From where?" Kim asked. The smile on Rene's face seemed to freeze.

"Uh…Ohio," she said, in a forced tone, which made Kimberly curious. "Yeah, Ohio. Home of the Buckeye's!" She smiled wide, selling her point a little too strongly.

Kim decided to let it go. "Cool. I've lived here all my life,"

"Cool," Rene said.

"So, do you want to hang out with me and my friends after school? There's a place called the Youth Center near the school, it's pretty awesome," Kim explained.

Rene smiled, but it was sad. She hadn't been out with anyone but PJ since she had become pregnant. "Do you mind a tag along?" she asked, referring to Marianne.

"No problem," Kim said, smiling.

"Then I guess it's settled. Of course I'll come, it sounds like fun," She smiled even wider, but there was still pain in her eyes.

"Are you a junior?" Kim asked, going into step with the girl.

"No…I just look older than I am. I'm only fourteen, I'm a freshman," she explained.

"Me too!" Kim gushed, excited. "Maybe we'll be in some of the same classes,"

"Gods, I hope so," Rene said. "I don't know anyone. Life here is scaring me deeply,"

"You shouldn't be," Kim said proudly, "You seem really nice. You'll find friends in no time, even with the amount of idiots that attend school here. Just stay away from Bulk and Skull and I guarantee you'll have a good year,"

"Really?" Irene asked, insecure.

"You've already made one," Kim said, smiling. "And you can make a few more later. I'm sure Jase, Tri, Zack, and Billy would love to meet you,"

"And I would love to meet them," Irene answered. They stopped outside the daycare and office (they were right next to each other). "Do you mind if I…"

"Go ahead, I'll just wait here," Kim answered.

"Oh, you really don't have to do that," Irene said, embarrassed.

"It's fine; I want to," Kim replied.

To Kim's relief, Irene just nodded. "Ok, I'll try to be quick,"

A few minutes later, Irene came out with books replacing Marianne. "Ok, let's go before I run back in there and try to take my baby to class with me!"

Kim laughed. "What class do you have first?"

"Uh…" she shifted the books to grab the schedule. "English with Ms. Applebee,"

"Ooo, me too!" Kim said excitedly. "Come on, I'll show you where it is,"

(Divider)

Hours later, Irene had gone to the youth center with Mari to wait for Kimberly. Unfortunately, the two classes she didn't share with Kim happened to be the only two classes Kim shared with the rest of her friends, so Rene hadn't met them yet. She was a little bit nervous, and stood outside the door. Finally she'd gathered what little self assurance that she had left and walked inside.

The place was as kicking as her mom's restaurant back home. Piper had built a teen area in the back, and the snack area looked exactly like it, except she wasn't there serving the drinks. But the place was almost….better. She saw mats and ballet bars and even a couple balance beams, like a school gym. Rene smiled. She could use the punching bags to work on Aunt Phoebe's kickboxing 101 skills, and could do a little acro or dancing on the mats. Gods, she hadn't gone dancing since she'd been pregnant.

"Hi, can I get you something?" Irene heard asked from the counter. She turned around and saw a middle aged, heavyset man with black hair, like hers.

"Not really, just waiting for my friends, or at least, some hopefully friends" she walked up to the counter. "I'm Irene, and you are…."

"Ernie. Nice to meet you," he said, grabbing her a strawberry smoothie, his best seller, anyway. "You new around here?"

She looked at him carefully, trying to use her sensing power (in the back corner of her mind she thanked her dad for the one good thing he had done for her). Seeing he wasn't a threat, she answered. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

Ernie chuckled. "Most kids come around here eventually for one reason or another. If you weren't new, I would have met you long before now," he set down the smoothie. "Here you go,"

"Oh, I didn't ask you for a smoothie," Irene said, knowing that until she got a job she was going to have to pinch her runaway fund pennies tightly.

"I know," Ernie said. "You just looked a little down. Tell you what: it's on the house,"

"Oh my gods. Thank you so much!" Rene gushed.

Ernie brushed it off. "It's fine. Do you need anything for the little one?" He knew better than to ask if it was her sister. After a few lovely conversations with new teens who used the daycare center, he had learned from his mistakes.

But Rene heard the unspoken question. "No thanks, Mari's a bit young for a smoothie. She'll be about a month tomorrow. She's mine by the way, if you were wondering,"

Ernie smiled. "Hey, it's fine. The Youth Center doesn't discriminate. I would warn you to stay away from Bulk and Skull, though, they like to use new teen moms as their own personal taunting bags,"

Rene chuckled. "The funny thing is I've already received that warning today. Thanks,"

"No problem," Ernie replied. He was starting to like the teen already.

Rene glanced away and saw a Help Wanted sign. "You're hiring?" she asked casually.

"Yeah, but I haven't gotten anyone I really like," he said sadly.

"Mind if I take an application?" she asked.

He smiled. "Knock yourself out,"

Rene grabbed an application and filled it out, skipping the work history section. She was starting to become very wary of anything that would lead to the discovery that she was Irene Halliwell and not Irene Warren. Not too much of a difference, but for her, the difference between life and death. Leo could easily get any record she put out there, and Rene knew that putting her mom as a reference was just asking for Leo to come after her. That's why she didn't tell anyone she was running away in the first place. She finished quickly and placed the application in the bin.

_We're late! Stupid putties! Where's Rene? _Irene looked up to see a disheveled looking Kim and four out of breath teens behind. Rene gave a slight chuckle and a small wave. Kim look relieved.

"Hi Rene. Sorry we're late, we got caught up in something,"

Rene brushed it off. "It's fine. I know the feeling," _From millions upon millions of demon vanquishes, _she thought.

"Oh! Guys, this is Irene. She's the girl I was talking about, and this is her daughter, Marianne. Rene, this is Trini, Zack, Billy, and Jason,"

"Nice to meet you," Irene said, shaking their hands. Man, Billy was cute.

_For gods sakes, Irene, you have no chance with him with a baby on your hands. _

"So this is the girl my little sister's been gushing about. I'm Jason. How are you liking Angel Grove?" The guy in red asked.

Irene shrugged. "What can I say? I haven't seen Bulk and Skull yet, and apparently their the ruiners, but so far, I think I'm going to like it here,"

"I hope so," Jason said. smiling


End file.
